ROAD KILL

Marcus Stroman ended his winless drought against a Detroit Tigers team struggling to snap out of their worst losing streak in nearly 15 years.

Stroman pitched seven innings to get his first victory this season Authentic Blake McLaughlin Jersey , Justin Smoak hit a two-run home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Detroit 3-2 Friday, handing the slumping Tigers their 10th consecutive defeat.

Stroman (1-5) had not won since beating the New York Yankees last Sept. 24 in Toronto’s final home game of the 2017 season, but snapped a career-worst streak of six straight losing decisions.

Making his second start after missing 39 games because of a sore shoulder, Stroman allowed two runs and five hits, lowering his ERA from 6.80 to 6.20. The right-hander struck out four and didn’t issue a walk for the first time in nine starts this season.

The emotional pitcher said he felt like himself again after taking down the Tigers.

”It’s a relief just being able to be myself out there,” Stroman said.

Manager John Gibbons agreed that success had given his pitcher a new spring in his step.

”He looks like the old guy,” Gibbons said. ”He’s got a little strut going, like John Travolta.”

”The guys are really pushing hard in the dugout but it’s just not happening right now,” manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Detroit slugger Nick Catsellanos said Stroman kept the Tigers off balance both with good stuff, and a funky delivery full of pauses and hesitations.

”He’s a very unorthodox pitcher with the way he delivers,” Castellanos said. ”He kind of dances on the mound a little bit. That can be difficult to get in synch with.”

Seunghwan Oh pitched the eighth and Tyler Clippard gave up an infield single to begin the ninth but retired the next three batters in order for his fifth save in nine chances.

Detroit opened the scoring when JaCoby Jones scored on Dixon Machado’s double play groundout in the third http://www.falconsauthorizedshops.com/a … hel-jersey , but the Blue Jays answered with a three-run fourth, with the first six batters reaching safely against Detroit’s Francisco Liriano.

Smoak hit his 10th home run and first since June 3 at Detroit, and Randal Grichuk added a two-out RBI single.

Tigers infielder Jeimer Candelario cut it to 3-2 with a solo homer, his team-leading 12th, to begin the seventh.

Liriano (3-4) allowed three runs in six innings to lose his third straight decision. The left-hander is winless in seven starts since a victory at Baltimore on April 28.

OSUNA UPDATE

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said he expects RHP Roberto Osuna to rejoin the team when his 75-game suspension for violating baseball’s joint policy on domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse. It’s the first time the team has publicly endorsed Osuna’s return to the roster since his arrest in early May. Osuna is still facing an assault charge in Toronto. His next court date is July 9.

”Roberto is our closer,” Atkins said. ”We’re running a baseball team and our goal is to win championships. Roberto could potentially be very much a part of that.”

Osuna has no record and a 2.93 ERA with nine saves in 10 chances this season.

MILESTONE K

Stroman fanned Tigers C James McCann in the fifth for his 500th career strikeout. He’s the 21st pitcher in Blue Jays history to reach the mark.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: LHP Daniel Stumpf (ulnar nerve) allowed one run and two hits in one inning at Triple-A Toledo. It was the first time Stumpf had pitched in back-to-back games since beginning his rehab assignment June 19.

Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez (right index finger) has not been able to throw since landing on the 10-day disabled list June 22 and is unlikely to be ready to return when eligible Monday, manager John Gibbons said. … Toronto selected utilityman Darnell Sweeney from Triple-A Buffalo to take the roster spot of OF Steve Pearce, who was traded to Boston on Thursday.

UP NEXT

Tigers LHP Matthew Boyd (4-6, 4.15) faces Blue Jays RHP Sam Gaviglio (2-2, 3.98). Boyd is 0-3 with an 8.66 ERA in four career starts at Toronto. Gaviglio is winless in five starts since beating Philadelphia on May 25.

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Before taking the floor, LeBron James stood in the hallway with his teammates outside Cleveland’s locker room and pounded his chest with both hands.

The Celtics got thumped next.

James had 27 points and 12 assists Authentic Justus Annunen Jersey , Kevin Love added 14 rebounds and the Cavaliers looked like a different team on their home court, tightening the Eastern Conference finals with a 116-86 victory in Game 3 over Boston on Saturday night.

Outplayed during two losses in Boston, the Cavs used a three-day break in the series to regroup and re-grip this series. With James leading the way, they built a 19-point lead in the first quarter, pushed it to 30 in the second half and overpowered the Celtics, who fell to 1-5 on the road in the postseason.

Any discussion of Cleveland’s demise is premature. Kyle Korver made four of the team’s 17 3-pointers, six players scored in double figures and the Cavs, who have spent the season seeking chemistry and cohesion, were connected defensively.

”Even when things broke down, we just covered for one another,” James said. ”We made them make extra passes. We made them make extra dribbles. We were flying around, and I just happened to be one of the guys on the floor that wanted to fly around as well.”

Game 4 is Monday night before the series returns to Boston.

Jaylen Brown was in foul trouble all night and scored just 10 for the Celtics after averaging 23 in the first two games. Jayson Tatum scored 18 and Terry Rozier 13 for Boston http://www.brownsauthorizedshops.com/au … eld-jersey , which couldn’t match Cleveland in any aspect.

”They took it to us,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. ”Point blank: They just outplayed us.”

Only 19 of a possible 300 teams have ever overcome a 2-0 deficit in the playoffs. James and the Cavs, who previously did it in 2007 and again in 2016 while winning the NBA title, took the first step toward a third comeback.

To return to the NBA Finals for the fourth straight year, the Cavs have to win four of five and re-write Boston’s illustrious history. The Celtics are 37-0 when they win the first two games in a series.

The Cavs came in wanting to play faster and be more physical with the younger Celtics, who were the aggressors in Games 1 and 2.

Not this time.

”The toughest team sets the rules,” Rozier said. ”They came out aggressive from the jump and never looked back. We’ve got to play aggressive from the rip. Tonight, we were all over the place, playing too fast and doing things we didn’t want to do.”

The Cavs needed more from point guard George Hill after two poor performances (8 points, 1 assist) in Boston. Hill responded with a driving layup to start the game and drained three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Cleveland wasted no time taking control.

Hill finished with 13, J.R. Smith 11 – they were outscored 41-3 in Game 2 – and Cleveland’s supporting cast played so well that James was only on the floor for 37 minutes.

Stevens was confident his team would play better on the road than earlier in these playoffs, but the Celtics were shaky early Authentic Lamar Jackson Jersey , committing four turnovers and shooting 2 of 10 while the Cavs opened a 27-11 lead.

James said earlier Saturday the fact he has twice rallied from 2-0 deficits in the postseason offered no relief.

”There’s nothing about the playoffs that’s comfortable until you either win it all or you lose and go into the summer,” he said.

Summer might not be as close as it once seemed.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Seeking to become the sixth No. 2 seed to win the East in eight years. Boston was a No. 4 seed when it advanced to the finals in 2010. … Fell to 3-8 in playoff games in Cleveland, the most by a Cavs opponent at the Q. … Stevens was relieved to learn that Boston legend Bill Russell was recovering after a hospital stay brought on by dehydration. Russell won 11 NBA titles with the Celtics. ”He’s the ultimate basketball winner,” Stevens said. ”The way he impacted winning, the unselfishness of a teammate, what he stood for off the floor – everything about him.”

Cavaliers: James needs six field goals to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2,356) for the most in postseason history. … Cleveland has won six straight playoff games at home. … Improved to 14-6 vs. Boston in the playoffs.

DOWN BROWN

The Cavs focused their defense on slowing Brown, and it worked. He was 3 of 8 from the floor and never found his flow after getting two early fouls.

”They were denying me the ball, and when I did get it, it was in positions that I’m not comfortable in,” he said. ”Give credit to Cleveland. They were physical and we settled for jumpers too much.”

DOWN TIME

The long layoff between Games 2 and 3 revived the Cavs.

”It was three days of stewing on Game 2,” Korver said. ”It probably did something good in us. It’s frustrating to have to wait that long for another game. We were able to put in some new things on offense Authentic Baker Mayfield Jersey , too.”

It got a little bigger, and a little more troubling. Still, he won’t focus on Boston’s road woes.

”In my 11 years as a head coach, I probably haven’t talked about road and home five times with our team,” he said. ”It’s about how you play between the lines. Because I think if you start talking about that, then you find excuses in both places. We can’t play like we played tonight no matter where we played. If we would have played in Boston like that, we .